Former Lady Griz athlete killed in Vancouver car accident

Former Lady Griz basketball player Julie Deming was reportedly killed in a car wreck over the weekend.

NBC Montana is doing our best to reach the people closest to her and piece together the details of the situation.

We’ve confirmed there was a fatal accident in Vancouver Washington this weekend and police have not yet released the name of the woman killed in that accident, but friends of Julie Deming tell us she was the one killed.

Deming graduated from the University of Montana in 2004 and was a star athlete for the Lady Griz basketball team.

Sunday evening in Missoula former teammates and friends gathered to mourn the loss of a great player they also say was an amazing person.

NBC Montana caught up with Lady Griz basketball coach Robin Selvig who tells us Deming was a good friend and he considered her to be family.

“She was a big part of my life for the four years she played here, we've kept in touch since and she wants to keep in touch because she's hanging on to that Lady Griz,” said Selvig. “She loved it here, she loved the fans, she loved everything about it and it's just a hard thing.”

Friends and Griz fans have been expressing their sadness about the news on social media websites all day. A forum has also been started on the Grizzly fan website, eGriz.com, dedicated to Deming.

Selvig tells us Deming was a hard-working, dedicated athlete that was loved by all of her friends and teammates. He says being the Lady Griz she was, Deming always caught games when the team was traveled to Portland to play.

“She really loved her teammates and she loved being a Lady Griz,” said Selvig. “She really missed being a Lady Griz and that was meaningful to me because when we visited it was ‘remember this and remember that?’”

Sunday afternoon we talked to one Griz fan who told us he always thought Deming was a top notch athlete. Another former schoolmate told us he knows she will be greatly missed.

He wanted us to share that Julie’s funeral will be at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Portland this Friday at 10 a.m. The address is 19180 Northwest, West Union Road.

He told us the funeral is open to all friends and family.

And we're going to continue to follow this story and bring you the details as we learn more.

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